The Current State of Marketing

Kotler, Philip; Pfoertsch, Waldemar; Sponholz, Uwe

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-59531-9_1

Philip Kotler⁴,
Waldemar Pfoertsch⁵ &
Uwe Sponholz⁶

3276 Accesses
3 Citations

Abstract

Marketing departments suffer from poor image and bad reputation in both companies and public. Traditional marketing embraces practices that can be referred to wasteful, inane, or unethical marketing. There is an increasing number of companies realizing that it needs another marketing approach, more human and more stakeholder than shareholder-oriented. The so-called Firms of Endearment prove that such an approach can go hand in hand with profitability. In addition, marketing seems to reduce to the communication function, losing its active role in innovation, which has constantly gained in importance for business success. Not only marketing practice but also marketing theory needs significant renewal. The Service-Dominant Logic (S-DL) marks a milestone in the development of marketing theory. This innovative theoretical concept integrates several approaches into a possible modern grand theory serving as theoretical foundation of marketing. H2H Marketing responds to both major trends, tools, and methods affecting marketing practice and the development of a modern marketing theory.

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Notes

1.
Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (2005). Does marketing need reform? p. 10 in Marketing Renaissance: Opportunities and Imperatives for Improving Marketing Thought, Practice, and Infrastructure. Journal of Marketing, 69(4), pp. 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.2005.69.4.1.
2.
See also Kotler, P. (2017). Criticisms and Contributions of Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.marketingjournal.org/criticisms-and-contributions-of-marketing-an-excerpt-from-philip-kotlers-autobiography-philip-kotler/.
3.
Sheth & Sisodia (2005), op. cit.
4.
Homburg, C., Vomberg, A., Enke, M., & Grimm, P. H. (2015). The loss of the marketing department’s influence: is it really happening? And why worry? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), pp. 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0416-3.
5.
Meffert, H., Burmann, C., Kirchgeorg, M., & Eisenbeiß, M. (2019). Marketing: Grundlagen marktorientierter Unternehmensführung Konzepte – Instrumente – Praxisbeispiele (13th. ed.), pp. 12–13 Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer Gabler.
6.
Benkenstein, M. (2018). Hat sich das Marketing als Leitkonzept der Unternehmensführung wirklich überlebt? – Eine kritische Stellungnahme. In M. Bruhn, & M. Kirchgeorg (Eds.), Marketing Weiterdenken: Zukunftspfade für eine marktorientierte Unternehmensführung (pp. 49–64). Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer Gabler.
7.
Sheth & Sisodia (2005), op. cit., p. 11.
8.
Meffert et al. (2019), op. cit., p. 14.
9.
Benkenstein (2018), op. cit. and Rebecca Henderson (2020). Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, New York, USA: PublicAffairs. “WHEN THE FACTS CHANGE, I CHANGE MY MIND. WHAT DO YOU DO, SIR?” Shareholder Value as Yesterday’s Idea.
10.
Sheth and Sisodia (2005), op. cit.
11.
Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (2002). Marketing productivity: Issues and analysis. Journal of Business Research, 55(5), pp. 349–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0148-2963(00)00164-8.
12.
Voeth, M. (2018). Marketing und/oder marktorientierte Unternehmensführung? In M. Bruhn, & M. Kirchgeorg (Eds.), Marketing Weiterdenken: Zukunftspfade für eine marktorientierte Unternehmensführung (pp. 67–78). Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer Gabler.
13.
Sheth and Sisodia (2005), op. cit., p. 11.
14.
Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (2007). Raising Marketing’s Aspirations, p. 141. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 26(1), pp. 141–143. https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.26.1.141.
15.
Sheth and Sisodia (2007), op. cit., p. 141.
16.
Adapted from Sheth and Sisodia (2007), op. cit., p. 142.
17.
Wholefoodsmarket (2020). Quality and Transparent Sourcing Drive Millennial Food Choices, According to New Whole Foods Market Survey. Retrieved from https://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/news/quality-and-transparent-sourcing-drive-millennial-food-choices-according-to.
18.
Godin, S. (2007). Permission Marketing. London, United Kingdom: Simon & Schuste, UK.
19.
Halligan, B., & Shah, D. (2018). Inbound-Marketing: Wie Sie Kunden online anziehen, abholen und begeistern (D. Runne, Trans.). Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH.
20.
Halligan and Shah (2018), op. cit., p. 19.
21.
Sisodia, R. S., Sheth, J. N., & Wolfe, D. (2014). Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose (2nd ed.), p. 7. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
22.
Sisodia, Sheth, & Wolfe (2014), op. cit., p. 7.
23.
Sisodia, Sheth, & Wolfe (2014), op. cit.
24.
Sisodia, Sheth, & Wolfe (2014), op. cit., p. 96.
25.
Apte, S. & Sheth, J. (2016) The Sustainability Edge: How to Drive Top-line Growth with Triple-bottom-line Thinking, Rotman-UTP Publishing.
26.
Apte & Sheth (2016), op. cit., Foreword section, Para. 7.
27.
Apte & Sheth (2016), op. cit., Foreword section, Para. 9.
28.
Apte & Sheth (2016), op. cit., Foreword section, Para. 10.
29.
Apte & Sheth (2016), op. cit., Preface section, Para. 3.
30.
Adapted from Nielsen (2018). Sustainable Shoppers buy the change they wish to see in the world [Report]. Retrieved from https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/global-sustainable-shoppers-report-2018.pdf.
31.
Apte & Sheth (2016), op. cit.
32.
Apte & Sheth (2016), op. cit.
33.
Adapted from Meffert et al. (2019), op. cit., p. 31.
34.
Bruhn, M. (2018). Marketing Weiterdenken in der marktorientierten Unternehmensführung – Entwicklungen und Zukunftsthemen der Marketingdisziplin. In M. Bruhn, & M. Kirchgeorg (Eds.), Marketing Weiterdenken: Zukunftspfade für eine markt orientierte Unternehmensführung (pp. 25–48). Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer Gabler.
35.
Bruhn (2018), op. cit., p. 31.
36.
1950 to 2010 is adapted from Bruhn (2018), op. cit., p. 29. The phase from 2020s is based on current developments in the Service-Dominant Logic and digitalization.
37.
Bruhn (2018), op. cit.
38.
Meffert et al. (2019), op. cit.
39.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), pp. 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.68.1.1.24036.
40.
Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H., & Setiawan, I. (2017). Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital, p. 22. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
41.
Bathen, D., & Jelden, J. (2014). Marketingorganisation der Zukunft [Report]. Retrieved from https://www.marketingverband.de/marketingkompetenz/studien/marketingorganisation-der-zukunft/.
42.
Bathen & Jelden (2014), op. cit., p. 8f.
43.
Bardhi, F., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2012). Access-Based Consumption: The Case of Car Sharing. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(4), pp. 881–898. https://doi.org/10.1086/666376.
44.
Chen, Y. (2009). Possession and Access: Consumer Desires and Value Perceptions Regarding Contemporary Art Collection and Exhibit Visits. Journal of Consumer Research, 35(6), pp. 925–940. https://doi.org/10.1086/593699.
45.
Marx, P. (2011, January 23). The Borrowers: Why buy when you can rent? The New Yorker. Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/31/the-borrowers.
46.
Bardhi & Eckhardt (2012), op. cit., p. 881.
47.
Bardhi & Eckhardt (2012), op. cit.
48.
Wallaschkowski, S., & Niehuis, E. (2017). Digitaler Konsum, p. 129. In O. Stengel, A. van Looy, & S. Wallaschkowski (Eds.), Digitalzeitalter – Digitalgesellschaft: Das Ende des Industriezeitalters und der Beginn einer neuen Epoche (pp. 109–141). Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS.
49.
Wallaschkowski & Niehuis (2017), op. cit., p. 129.
50.
Sisodia, Sheth, & Wolfe (2014), op. cit., p. XXII.
51.
Sisodia, Sheth, & Wolfe (2014), op. cit.
52.
It is important to note that for Vargo & Lusch service is different from services in their traditional sense. For them service constitutes “[…] the application of specialized competences (knowledge and skills) through deeds, processes, and performances for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself” (see Vargo & Lusch, 2004, p. 2).
53.
Prahalad, C. K., & Ramaswamy, V. (2003). The New Frontier of Experience Innovation, p. 14. MIT Sloan Management Review, 44(4), pp. 12–18. Retrieved from https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-new-frontier-of-experience-innovation/.
54.
Prahalad & Ramaswamy (2003), op. cit., p. 18.
55.
Adapted from Prahalad & Ramaswamy (2003), op. cit., p. 17.
56.
Prahalad, C. K., & Ramaswamy, V. (2000). Co-opting Customer Competence, p. 80. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), pp. 79–87. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2000/01/coopting-customer-competence.
57.
Prahalad & Ramaswamy (2000), op. cit.
58.
Gassmann, O., & Schweitzer, F. (2014). Managing the Unmanageable: The Fuzzy Front End of Innovation. In O. Gassmann, & F. Schweitzer (Eds.), Management of the Fuzzy Front End of Innovation (pp. 3–14). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.
59.
Homburg et al. (2015), op. cit.
60.
Sheth & Sisodia (2007), op. cit., p. 142.
61.
Kumar, V. (2015). Evolution of Marketing as a Discipline: What Has Happened and What to Look Out For. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), p. 5. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.79.1.1.
62.
Homburg et al. (2015), op. cit.
63.
Sheth & Sisodia (2007), op. cit., p. 141.
64.
Heath, T, & McKechnie, S. (2019). Sustainability in Marketing. Incorporating Sustainability in Management Education: An Interdisciplinary Approach, edited by Amaeshi, K., Muthuri, J.N., & Ogbechie, C., pp. 105–31. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98125-3_6.
65.
Rosling, H, Rönnlund, A, & Rosling, O. (2018). Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World--and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. Flatiron Books.
66.
Kahneman, D., & Deaton, A. (2010). High Income Improves Evaluation of Life but Not Emotional Well-Being. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 (38): 16489–93. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1011492107.
67.
Rosling et al. (2018), op. cit., p. 32.
68.
Wackernagel, M., & Rees, W. E. (1996). Our Ecological Footprint. The New Catalyst Bioregional Series; 9.
69.
Kemper, J., Hall, C., & Ballantine, P. (2019). Marketing and Sustainability: Business as Usual or Changing Worldviews? Sustainability 11 (3): 780. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030780.
70.
Kemper et al. (2019), op. cit.
71.
McDonagh, P., & Prothero, A. (2014). Sustainability Marketing Research: Past, Present and Future. Journal of Marketing Management, 30 (11–12): 1186–1219. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2014.943263.
72.
Jones, P., Clarke-Hill, C., Comfort, D. & Hillier, D. (2008). Marketing and Sustainability. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 26 (2): 123–30. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500810860584.
73.
Rittel, H.W., & Webber, M.M. (1973), Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4 (2), pp. 155–169.
74.
Buchanan, R. (1992), Wicked Problems in Design Thinking. Design Issues, 8(2), pp. 96–100.

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Google Scholar
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Article Google Scholar
Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (2005). Does marketing need reform? In marketing renaissance: Opportunities and imperatives for improving marketing thought, practice, and infrastructure. Journal of Marketing, 69(4), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.2005.69.4.1.
Article Google Scholar
Sheth, J. N., & Sisodia, R. S. (2007). Raising marketing’s aspirations. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 26(1), 141–143. https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.26.1.141.
Article Google Scholar
Sisodia, R. S., Sheth, J. N., & Wolfe, D. (2014). Firms of endearment: How world-class companies profit from passion and purpose (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Google Scholar
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing. Journal of Marketing, 68(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.68.1.1.24036.
Article Google Scholar
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Chapter Google Scholar

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Authors and Affiliations

Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Philip Kotler
Pforzheim Business School, Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, Pforzheim, Germany
Waldemar Pfoertsch
Faculty of Business and Engineering, University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Schweinfurt, Germany
Uwe Sponholz

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Waldemar Pfoertsch
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Kotler, P., Pfoertsch, W., Sponholz, U. (2021). The Current State of Marketing. In: H2H Marketing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59531-9_1

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59531-9_1
Published: 13 December 2020
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